


When You See

by CloudFire



Series: We're Keeping You [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: American Highschool AU, Babies!, Larry- Friendship, M/M, Mpreg, There's a weird and unofficial Lirry thing going on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-15 00:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudFire/pseuds/CloudFire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall didn't know Louis. He was just a peer. But Harry is Louis' friend, and Niall's too. So when Louis throws a party, Niall gets dragged along. But it's not all smooth sailing...</p><p>Louis hadn't known Niall much, either. Just knew he was Harry's friend. But he didn't expect Niall to show up to his party. And he didn't expect him to look so good after his buzz had set in.</p><p>Crazy things happen. Some way, these two people must learn how to cope with the situation they so blindly set themselves up for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, again! So, this is Nouis! Yeah, I don't know where this came from really.. Just like Nouis. And Mpreg. Ah well now you know

Niall sat at the front of the class, because he wouldn't let himself be tempted into getting in trouble by sitting in the back. He and his friends were on a regime, and sitting in the back would not help them. So Liam sat in the very front and Niall and Zayn sat in the second row . Some how, they still managed to get in trouble. Louis sat in the back of class, with Harry. They were best friends, and had been since Year 4. Louis had been Harry's wing man, and that's how Harry had 3 girlfriends right now. It wasn't really tightknit but they all knew each other a little, through Harry, because Harry was that kind of person, who had all kinds of friends.

"Louis, you can't _really_ be throwing a party." Harry argued to the tan skinned boy. Louis blinked. "Why is that so hard to believe? I, Louis Tomlinson-,"

"Need to stop talking." Mr. Biebe said, walking over to where Louis was. They were supposed to be reading an old 15th Century book, but it had failed to catch Louis' interest. He'd payed so little attention to his tattered old copy that it had fallen onto the floor and he hadn't picked it up. Sighing, Mr. Bieber bent over to pick it up. In the front of the class, Zayn made a sound. Niall pinched him. See, Zayn had this crush-type thing for Mr. Bieber. "It's weird," Niall had said. Zayn had defended himself by saying, "No, it's not! It's better than having a crush on your swimming insructor!" Niall had backed off then.

Mr. Beiber turned his stern eyes towards Louis. "Now, Mr. Tomlinson, I believe you have a book to read?" Louis nodded. "Yeah, sorry, Teach." He said, boredness in his eyes as he took the book from 'Teach' and started pretending to read it.  Harry snickered when Louis scowled and rolled his eyes at Justin's back. "Stupid teacher." He whispered before closing his book again. "Now, as I was saying," He looked towards Justin with contempt before continuing, "I am having a party, Harry. You need to tell some people about it, ok?" Harry shook his head in wonder and nodded to Louis' request. Louis smiled befor looking at the clock. "Ugh. 40 more minutes."

Niall hadn't really payed attention to Louis' little incident until Zayn had made his sound. Then he saw Louis and and Harry in the back and he smiled because Harry and Louis were always in trouble. Even though he didn't really know Louis, he knew the boy was funny as _hell_ and could cause people to have cramps because of laughing so much. Niall had experienced that one.

Later that day, Harry came up to Niall and started up a casual conversation. "So, Louis is having a party. Do you think you could tell some people about it? And it would be even better if you go yourself." Niall hadn't eve really been to any big parties; he didn't know how to do it. "Um.. When? And where? I need to know so that I can tell people about it." Harry shrugged. "Friday, at Louis' house. Probably start at 10 or something." And then Harry's mom pulled up, and he had to leave.

Niall didn't know if he was going to the party or not. It didn't seem like something he'd probably go to, and plus, he was on a regime. He had decided, then; he'd tell people, but he wouldn't go.

~~~~~

Louis had called Harry and written down all the people he'd told about it. "So that's Perrie, Jade, Zayn, Josh, Olly, Leigh, Grimmy," Louis made a gag face that Harry couldn't see, "And then Jesy and.. Niall? The blonde kid in the front of the class?" Harry sniffed. "Yeah, why? Does it matter? I know he's on this 'goodness' thing and I'm trying to break him because if he doesn't go then Zayn won't go and then it will be lame because Zayn always has the best drinks and shit, so."

Louis nods and puts a star by Niall's name, then going to the bottom of the page, adds, " _Get to come. Very important."_ Louis sighs. "Alright, than that's it! They'll tell their friends and then I'll have a wicked party." Harry laughed. "I still can't believe you're having a party in the first place!" Louis snorted. "Why is it _so hard_ to believe?" He asked, and Harry laughed harder. "I don't know. You're just.. Louis. And Louis doesn't throw parties.." Louis huffed and angry breath before bidding Harry a 'shitty' night's sleep. Harry laughes and says, "Right back atcha, Lou. Night."

Louis looks his list over. Perrie and Jade, yeah, they were ok. Zayn? He usually _did_ make the party a party. He was ok. Josh and Olly were insepribale. Leigh made people want to dance and sometimes she rapped to the beat of the song that was playing and people recorded it, then she lived it down for a year afterwards. She would go. Grimmy.. Louis didn't like him too much but he would allow him to come this time. Jesy would have to constantly be around Olly, so she was going. And then, there was Niall.

He was in Niall's friend group, he supposed, but he didn't really know much about him except that he thought Louis was funny, and that he was Harry's friend. He didn't care _too_ much about him but if he would make Zayn come, then he'd have to go.

~~~~~~~

The day of the party, Louis tried to stay home and set up early but his mum wouldn't stop watching him so in the end he decided his head didn't hurt anymore and that he was fit to go to school today. His mum drove him and then kissed him and told him to be good and safe and he wished he could push her back into her car because Harry was there and already laughing but Louis' mom wasn't having that, she kissed him one more good time for extra measure. Harry was left to rely on the ground as he laughed and Louis smacked him in the head and told him it was not funny, just a mother showing her son she loved her, and Harry got up and would laugh throughout the whole day.

Louis drove home and knocked to see if his mother was home. He sighed in relief when she didn't answer. He keyed open the door and then the setup began. Harry had come home with him and they made sure everything looked presentable, and that's when Perrie and Leigh-Anne showed up. "Are we the first ones here? _Perf!_ " Perrie says and Louis wants to say something back but he can't because the fact that Perrie just said perf outloud is hard to deal with on its own. Perrie had brought some music and she demanded that they play her music because if she was the first one there, she _deserved_ it. Louis didn't even try to fight her.

A few more people rolled in and then Zayn came and it was on and poppin' cause just like everyone expected, he brought his mom's old wine and liquors and then it was a party. People were drunk and loud and it was hot in there but nobody seemed to notice, or care. Louis stood at the door and welcomed people and told them he was very apprecitative of their arrival. They smiled and then walked in and looked for Zayn, most of the time.

Harry was taking role of all the people he'd told about the party. Yes, there was Jade and Jesy, doing something questionable in the corner. Josh and Olly were shouting and trying to steal people's drinks. Leigh-Anne and Perrie were next to the speakers and jamming a little too hard, and Harry laughed at them a bit before going back to his thoughts. There was Zayn and he looked a little high, and then Grimmy was in another corner, holding up the wall. So that's everyone, right? No wait, wrong.

 _Niall._ Harry sighed and went up to Louis' attic. There he called Niall. "Niall! Where are you?" Niall turned down his TV and answered. "Uh, home?" Harry shook his head. "No, no! Come down to Louis' house! Or, here, I'll drive you." Niall made panic-y sounds. "What? No, I'm tring to-" Harry a hand in the air as  he raced across Louis' living room. "Yeah, yeah. Just get ready, ok? Something nice." And now Niall has no choice.

~~~~~~~~~~~

He's waiting for Harry at the back door, and thinking about just how little he knows Louis. Then he sees Harry lights and he has to jump off of his porch and run like a trackstar to catch Harry's car. Harry was quite very drunk but it was ok, he said, because they'd be there soon. Niall actually lived close to Louis.

And then Harry's off and Niall didn't have his seatbelt on and almost died by flying out of the car. Harry laughed at him and went faster.

After a whole five mintues of "Harry slow down!" and "Oh my gosh, I'm going to die," Harry and Niall make it to Louis' party, and Niall can feel his 'badness' coming back to him as he hears the loud music and sees the drunk people on the lawn. When Niall walks in he see Leigh-Anne doing her yearly rap to the beat and he want's to go over and hear it before the shitty quality recordings come out, but then he saw Louis. Louis didn't have any shoes on, and he had a drink in his hand. He was shouting and turning in circles for Harry, who was twirling him like a princess. Louis giggled and on one of his rounds looked up and saw Niall and stopped turning.

Louis shoved his drink at Harry's chest and all but ran over to where Niall was standing. "Hey, you came!" He said, and Niall nodded. It was evident that Louis had already had a few drinks. "Yeah.." Louis looked at Niall and wasn't paying attention to his words. "Hey, can I tell you a secret?" Niall feels a little awkward but he nods anyway. Louis comes closer to him and falls over him a bit in his attempt to reach Niall's ear.

"I think... I think you're kind of hot."

Niall had never heard that before, and he's kind of scared of what it could mean. But Louis is waiting for him to answer back and Niall does _kind_ of think Louis looks good tonight, so. "Yeah, you too." Louis smiles at him and somehow Niall ends up on the stairs off Louis' house, talking to Louis and having Louis not pay any attention to him. "Niall.." Louis whispers, and Niall sighs. "Yeah?" Louis bit his lip. "How about you let me fuck you."

Niall is taken aback and almost falls off the stairs. _What?_ "Me? Why me? Me?" Louis looks agitated that Niall can't just say 'Yeah, ok.' "Yes, you. You're so _fucking_ hot and if I don't fuck you tonight I probably never will. " Niall doesn't know, sure he's had sex dozens of times. But with Louis? "Uh.." Louis sighed. "Just say yes." Niall looks to see if Louis is really wanting this, and yeah, Louis had a few drinks but that was long ago and now everything he said was true.

"Alright." Niall says. He feels Louis put him on his shoulder and take him into a comfortably dirty room. "Yours?" Niall asked. Louis nodded and looked Niall over. "This isn't taking advantage, is it?" Niall asked as an after thought. Louis shook his head. "No, no. I _want you._ "

Louis went and closed the door behind him, and then it began.

~~~~~

They went for maybe three rounds before Niall felt like he was going to shrivel up. "No, no more." He begged. Louis moved away from him and then came back and layed down next to him. "No one can know about this, ok?" Louis said while toying with Niall's chin. "Yeah, alright."

Something about it was all wrong. 


	2. Chapter 2- 4 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has been four weeks since Niall and Louis' affair. They don't really know what they are at this moment, and they're ok with that. Louis gets these strange feelings but he won't give in to them.

It's been four weeks since Louis' party. Niall and Louis haven't really spoken to each other, and Louis is okay with that. He didn't know how he would deal with it if Niall wanted to talk to him about it, so he kind of avoided it whenever he could. But the plus of that rendezvous was that they'd become closer friends. As of now they were in the lunchroom, and Harry had olives in his nose, and they were laughing and then Mr. Bieber walked in and Niall had to cover Zayn's mouth because he was sqealing and it was so horribly embarrassing.

Louis sat and watched them, never having been one to really be loud and obnoxious. He was just so fond of his friends and it was really great because they liked him well enough, too. But Niall stopped laughing and Louis feels that hot feelign shoot through him as he thinks, "Is he going to talk about it now, here?" But Niall just sits and he looks a bit pale. Louis looks and sees that the rest ofthem aren't noticing it. And if they are then they're being shit friends right now. "Niall, are you okay?" Louis finally asks, because the other people are oblivious. Niall shakes his head and goes to put it down on the table but then Zayn knocks into his back somehow and then Niall is throwing up on the table, all over everyone's food and even a bit on Harry's pinkie finger. They're paying attention now.

"Niall?" Liam says and Niall opens his mouth to answer but only tosses more cookies and at this point Zayn's fallen out of his chair with fright and disgustedness. Louis has had enough of looking at this and grabs Niall's arm and takes him to the nearest toilet where Niall can properly get rid of whatever he'd eaten for the past- maybe a day or two, Louis can't tell but it's scary nonetheless to see anyone like this, let alone Niall, his newfound friend. "Alright, mate?" Louis asks when it looks like Niall is empty and there is nothing else to throw up. Niall nods and then sits on the floor, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Louis joins him and puts his arm around him. Niall pus his head in the crook of Louis' neck.

"Why do you think that happened?" Louis aks after a while. Niall just shrugs his shoulders and burrows deeper into Louis' neck. Louis sighs and then the bell rings. "Class." Louis says, but he doesn't try to get up. He doesn't want to leave Niall right now; this is the only period that he and Niall don't have together. Niall shakes his head and then he turns so that he's facing Louis. "Here it comes." Louis thinks before Niall starts talking.

"I've been thinking. I don't really know what we are right now and I guess I'm saying that I'd like to." Niall says and then he waits and watches Louis' face. Louis hadn't really thought about what he would say but now here it is and he feels so dumb for not planning this ahead of time. "Uhm.. What do you _want_ to be?" He asks, and he knows now that he's stumped Niall, at least for a bit. He sits back against the wall of the bathroom stall and watches Niall try and figure out what to say. "I don't know. I guess I just.. Don't know." He says. Louis nods his head. "When you figure it out, you can tell me then." Louis said and Niall nods.

The bell rings again and now it's the last class of the day. "C'mon, then. Let's head out. We can say that you got sick and then we got lost looking for the nurse." Louis said, formulating the lie as if it were blinking. Niall smiles and Louis feels fluttery but he dismisses it as "going to English class" excitement. When they walk in, the teacher doesn't even ask them where they were, so Louis doesn't feel the need to tell him. Louis thinks about going to sit with Harry, but he feels so protective of Niall right now- like a _maternal_ instinct- that he can't. He looks at Niall and Niall sits in the front.  Louis takes the seat next to Liam and acts like he always sits here when in reality, he's sat here so little that the class looks like a different room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louis goes home and he gets his phone blown up by Harry. "What? What do you want?" Louis asks, answering Harry's 20th call. "Why did you sit in the front? Why'd you skip? And whatever happened to Niall?" He asked. Louis sighed in exasperation. "He threw up and then I didn't go to class because I didn't want him to be alone in the class without me and yea I sat in the front because of my feeling that if I didn't he would die. There, happy?" Louis said and put Harry on speaker so that he could finish algebra his homework that's been talking the teacher into taking late for a week now.

"Oh. Okay then. You mates with Niall now? Don't have time for your dear old Harold?" Harry said in a sad voice that wasn't real and Louis wants to laugh but he can tell that the thought it there and that Harry really is -even if it's only a little bit- hurt. Louis checked an answer box on his homework. "I'm sorry but the kid threw up. If you did it I would have sat with you." Harry made an 'eugh' sound and then he went on to tell Louis about how his sister was doing, and how his mum was doing, and Robin too, and how Louis actually lives really close to Niall, and that Gemma's met someone and- "What? I live close to _who_?" Louis asked, breaking Harry midsentence.

"Niall. When I drove him to your party. You guys only live a few blocks down from each other. He lives on the hill." Louis gasped. "Really? Oh. Maybe I'll go see him sometime then." He said, and Harry made his sound again. "Gotta go, mate. Mum's downstairs, she says she's got news." Louis checked another box. "Yeah, okay. Tell me about it later, yeah?" He says and then Harry's hung up and it's stragnely quiet in his house. "Mum?" He calls. She makes a really muffled sound downstairs. "Here, then." Louis says and goes downstairs to be near her. "Hey, Boo." She says as she sees him coming down the stairs. Louis fixes a glare her way but still goes and sits in front of her on one of the bar stools in the kitchen. "Hey Mum."

"Mum, what if a kid threw up and so you skipped with them and sat with them away from your best mate, would that make you a bad mate?" Louis asks. His mum laughs. "What? A kid threw up today? You _skipped?_ " Louis shook his head and sighed. "No, no. I said, "what if" which means it could have very well _not_ happened." Louis' mum just makes those _tsk tsk_ sounds and turns back to her cooking. "No, dear. It makes you a good, caring mate who was not in the wrong. It doesn't, however, permit you to skip class." She said, and looked pointedly at him. Louis looked up and around him to avoid her gaze. "Dunno what you're talking about, mum. But, is it okay if I go to a kid's house?" Louis changes the subject easliy, and his mum nods. "Yes. But if you aren't back by dark I'm sending the minions and if they find you it's a week." She didn't even laugh.

Louis nodded and grabbed his jacket from it's hook. "Alright then. I'll see you soon, mum." He says and then heads out to find Niall's house. He remembers that Harry said something about the hill. Looking towards it, Louis walked in that direction. He didn't know which house was Niall's, but he didn't want to just knock on random doors. "It's better than looking through windows." he thought. So, he went to the first house he saw on the hill and was going to knock on the door when he heard something that he'd come to secretly dream about- Niall's laugh.

 Turning around, Louis sees that Niall and someone who looks a bit like him are in the street playing football, at the top of the hill. Louis doesn't want to just _be there_ but he wants to see Niall and that feeling overules his sense right now. So he makes his way up the hill and at first Niall doesn't notice him but then he does and he runs over and rubs Louis' arm. "Hey mate. Where'd you come from?" He says, surprised. "My house, actually. It's right down there." Louis says, and he points. Niall looks down at it and then smiles back at Louis. Louis feels fluttery again but he doesn't know what to blame it on now. He kind of likes it, he'd never admit. "So, you're okay now? I just came to check on you, and I still don't know which one is yours." He says and Niall laughs. "Stop that." Louis wants to say but of course he doesn't.

"Oh, it's this one. And yea, i'm doing fine. I guess I'll call you when I'm not." Niall says after he's pointed out his house. Louis stares at it with his lips parted in awe because even though he's never been in it, he can tell it's so beautiful. Shaking his head, Louis gathers himself enough to wave a goodbye to Niall and then he's all but running down the hill. He'd never thought he'd get to see that. But there it was, so close to him, and he was giddy from the thoughts he got of sneaking into Niall's house late at night and seeing him in his environment; the thoughts fasinated Louis to no end.

It was about dinner time when Louis got back, and he ate with his family. He decided he could take a shower in the morning and it was Friday anyway so he went immediately to bed. He dreamed about Niall's laugh and his smile and then of sneaking out to meet him halfway and-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Louis woke up to his phone ringing. Groaning, he pressed accept. "Hello?" He said blearily and the voice on the other end is urgent and familiar. "Louis.. it happened again." Niall is calling me in the morning. Wow. "What happened again?" He says, fully awake now and yet not. He's whispering and shvering because it's cold. "Oh, wait. No, Niall, tell me you didn't-" Niall sniffes and then he sounds like he's crying a bit but no, can't be- "Yeah, Louis, I did. I'm sorry, really sorry." Louis is shocked. "You're _sorry?_ For what? It's not your fault if you're blowing chunks nd you can't blame yourself, okay?" He says, and thinks it's a good enough answer until Niall says back, "What? What if I do blame myself? You can't control that." Louis sighs. "I know, I wasn't trying to, I was just saying-" Niall makes a sound and he sounds sad again.

"No, please, don't, okay, don't cry." Louis says but it's too late, he's crying again. When he stops and is reduced to sniffing, Louis takes his chance to end this strange and confusing converstation. "Well. I'm really sorry that happened to you, babe. But I hope you ge better! Try to sleep now." He says. Niall is quiet before saying, "Yea, okay. Good morning, Louis." And with that, Niall hangs up. Louis lays back onto his pillows and sighs.

Something about Niall was.. different.


	3. Chapter 3- 8 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8 weeks ago Louis and Niall did something that neither would care to dwell on. But now, something seems genuinely wrong with Niall, and it's throwing a wrench into his and Louis' friendship

It's been happening everyday, for weeks now. Niall is scared that he's got some disease and has five days to live. He always thanks God when he wakes up because he's made it another night, and is blessed enough to see another day. He tells Louis about it everyday, and Louis listens, and sometimes he takes notes.  Louis is also very scared for Niall's well being, and can't help thinking maybe it was his fault. Maybe _he_ had the disease and had given it to Niall. But that didn't add up because while Louis wasn't a virgin in any means, he was always safe. So it wasn't possible for it to be his fault. But that didn't stop him from thinking it.

"Niall. It's been almost three months and you _still_ haven't seen the doctor? I don't think that's very smart." Louis told him. He hissed. "Yea? You try being scared that you're going to die every second and only wishing you knew what was happening to you! Maybe then you'd understand. I don't _need_ to see a doctor. He's just going to tell me that I'm going to die and I don't want to hear that." He said, and Louis sighed. "I'm sorry, ok? I was just saying." Niall sighed and sniffed. "Yea, I know. I'm sorry that I got so mad, I don't know why I even did that." Louis wrote on his paper _mood swing, anger._

"It's ok. I guess it's not your fault if you don't want to hear that you're going to die." Louis says and he tries not to think of this because he doesn't want Niall to die. They were best friends now and it was just so heart-breaking to see him like this. Louis tried all he could to cheer Niall up, and Niall was grateful that at least he had friends that cared about him enough that they would still be there for him right now. "Yea. I guess that's it. I'll see you on Monday." Niall said and then hung up, and Louis felt sad, not just for Niall, but for himself. If Niall died, Louis didn't know what he would do.

There would be no point in living, really. Because Louis had come to terms with it, even though he thought it would always be Harry; he loves Niall. Niall, with his imperfect smile. Niall, with his wonderful blue eyes. Niall, with his striking personality. Louis felt like he was going to explode if Niall even looked at him and at first he'd hated it because that's just not how it was supposed to be. But eventually, he'd convinced himself that loving Niall was the best feeling he'd ever developed.

He could never tell anyone, of course, but he wished upon stars and once even the moon that Niall felt the same about him.He knew it was so unlikely it was probably impossible but he still hoped. Louis just felt so responsible for Niall and he hated it when anyone thought they could just say or do anything and that it didn't affect Niall because Niall was fragile and Louis knew that. But most people didn't and it was a struggle to convince Niall that the things weren't true and that he was actually a wonderful individual.

Louis decided that it had been going on for far too long and he wasn't going to let Niall hurt anymore. He called Niall and waited for him to answer. "Hello?" Niall said. "Niall, where are you?" Louis asked, while he put on his shoes and combed his hair. "Huh? Home.." Niall said, and Louis spit out his toothpaste. "Great. I'm coming over, ok? We're going to go out." Niall said, "Huh?" Again but Louis was already out the door and on the street.

Louis made a fast pace as he headed to Niall's house. He planned while he was walking. "I'll just ask him a few places, adding Starbucks," Louis' mum wouldn't have been proud, "and then I'll just take him to the walk in doctor." Louis smiled at his quick thinking, right as he reached Niall's house. Holding his breath, Louis knocked on the door. Niall's mom answered it and smiled to see it was Louis. "Oh! Louis, what a surprise. Niall, Louis is here!" She shouted.

Louis had made good on his promise to visit Niall again and now he did it regularly, so much that he knew Niall's mum, and he knew that the man who looked a tiny bit like him was his brother. He knew that Niall's mum and dad were seperated right now, and that meant that she and his mum had something in common. Niall came down and saw Louis in the door. He smiled and Louis had to hold onto the door frame to stay on his feet. He smiled back at Niall as he walked up to him. "Yea, mum, we're going out. Be back by the afternoon." Niall said and kissed his mum on the cheek.

She let them go and then they had to walk to Louis' house because he hadn't brought his car. He took this opprotunity to make their list of destinations. "So, where did you want to go?" Louis asks after he tells a series of jokes that Niall had almost fell on the street laughing at. Niall shrugged. "Could we go to the market? My mum needs some stuff." He says. Louis nods at this, and then mentally adds, "And then we can go on to Starbucks."

They got to Louis' house, and then into Louis' car. When they got to the market ( "You drive much safer than Harry." "To be fair, Harry was drunk."), Niall went off to get what his mum needed for her, while louis wandered into the book section. He wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for but it was nice to be in here, because it was quiet and quaint. "Maybe I'll be a librarian." Louis thought, but quickly shot that down because that would be _hell._ All day, surrounded by books and having to get on to people for being loud? And the _organizing._ No, you wouldn't ever find Louis Tomlinson as a librarian, not in this universe.

Niall came up behind Louis and his breath was on his ear and he whispered, "Boo." And that wasn't that bad, except it was _Niall._ And what had he said? "Boo." Louis' nickname. He knew it wasn't meant that way but it just made him feel in his heart that if he didn't have Niall than it wouldn't a right life for him. Louis hissed and he turned around, rubbing his neck. "So, ready to go?" Louis asked instead of addressing what Niall had just done. Niall laughed and nodded.

"We're going to Starbucks next." Louis said and they did, though Niall protested. Louis ordered for himself, and it was obvious that Niall didn't come here too much, so he ordered Niall some ice coffee. "how are you feeling?" Louis asked as he took a sip of his coffee. Niall shrugged. "I'm alright, right now." He replied, and drank some of his coffee. Louis could honestly tell that Niall was not okay, but he wouldn't mention it because Niall had been acting relatively normal this whole outing and Louis would _not_ be the one to ruin it.

When they'd finished and payed for their drinks and were back in the car, Niall turned to Louis. "So, where to next?" He asked, and Louis didn't know how he'd react but he _had_ to go so- "The doctor." He said, and Niall's smile faded to a look of betrayal and hurt. "What? Are you going to _seriously_ take me to the doctor?" Louis nodded, and Niall refused to look at him the whole drive. When they got there, Niall looked at the doctor's office and Louis resentfully and when Louis tried to hold his hand he wrenched it away and looked at Louis in disgust before calming down a bit, or enough to walk through the doors.

Walking up to the front desk, Louis got the attention of the woman sitting there. "Hello, uh.. Cortni," Louis read, "My boyf-" Louis stopped mid word and tried again. Why did these stupid things always come out of his mouth? "My _friend_ here has been getting sick for many weeks and he's been acting very strange and I'm just wondering if I could see if there was a doctor available." Cortni smiled at him around her pink bubblegum and tapped away at her computer. "Yes, there is one. Dr. Hudson is available right now, is that okay?" Louis nodded, and Cortni pointed to her left. "His office is over there." She said. Louis thanked her, and yanked Niall with him to the office.

"I still don't understand how you can be doing this to me. I thought you cared." Niall said, and Louis sighed. "I'm sorry but if you don't know what's wrong with you then there's no point." Louis said, and it made sense to him and it didn't matter anyway because the doctor has just opened his door. He was actually not that tall, he had dark hair and his skin was pale. "Hello! Have a seat." Dr. Hudson said, and Louis sat. Niall, however, chose to stand and sulk by the door. "So, what brings you here?" And Louis explains again (this time without that stupid slip of words), and the doctor nods.

"How long has this been going on, then?" He says. Louis thinks back to four weeks ago when Niall threw up all over the lunch table. "I'd say.. four weeks." Dr. Hudson nods again. "Alright. Now, Niall, I'm going to test you for some things, okay?" Niall nods but it's curt. _An effort._

Louis watches as the doctor takes various little smaples from Niall and then when he's finished, Niall finally sits down because that was a lot of work. "Now, for the last thing I can think of, I'll need a urine sample so you'll have to pee in this cup." Niall's eyes went wide and the finger he'd been biting fell into his lap. "What? Do what? _Where?_ " Louis had to cover his mouth to keep the smile off of his face. "Ugh, whatever. Gimme it." Niall said and snatched it from Dr. Hudson. Louis tried not to thinkof the other things that could come from Niall and when he came back he shook his head nad tried hard to pay attention to what the doctor was saying.

"- You can stay for a little bit because this test will be in soon." He was saying. Louis saw Niall look disappointed in himself and he had to turn away because Niall was just _funny._ "Ah." The doctor said and looked at his endless stream of papers that were printing. Taking the last one, his face turned blank and he looked to Niall. "Alright, Mr. Horan. Now, my test results here are telling me exactly what's been ailing you." He begins."You may not believe this, and I suggest that you be very much more careful in your future, but.. You're going to have a baby." Niall looked how Louis felt; both shocked and a little horrified. "What? No, no. You're wrong. I'm not." Niall says.

The doctor shakes his head and sighes. "Yea, you are. You're two months along right now." Niall just wrinkled his nose and made to leave but Louis grabbed his arm and made him stay. "How many weeks is that?" The doctor looked at Louis with an are-you-really-that-dense look before saying, "Eight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Outside of the doctor's facility, Niall huffed and Louis dragged him to the side to talk to him. "You can't have actually believed that guy, Lou." Niall said, and Louis had. "But what if what he said was true? What if you are going to have a baby?" Louis said and Niall couldn't believe this. "How is that even possible? Who does that?" Niall said. Louis sighed. "Look, I'm just saying that maybe you should think about this." Niall shook his head in frustration. "No, no! That just doesn't make any sense! Where would it come from? How would it come from there? Who made this? It doesn't add up and I don't get it." But God, how it all added to Louis.

It had started with the sickness in the bathroom. Then, it had happened everyday after. And now, it was the crazy mood swings that at one second Louis was okay with but the next Niall was acting like a stark raving bitch and it was just really horrible. But how could this have happened? "You been fucking around?" Louis asks, because he knows the answer to how it happened and he would kill himself to make it not true. Niall made a who-the-fuck-do-you-think-I-am face and said, "What? No. Why?" Louis bit his lip before saying, "Then I know how your baby was made, or who made it, rather." Niall looks intruiged despite himself. "Who, then?"

"Me."

And somehow, Louis wasn't sorry. 


	4. Chapter 4- 12 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 12 weeks ago, Louis and Niall hadn't really acknowledged each other. Now they had to deal with the fact Niall would be showing soon, and the fact that Louis liked Niall a bit too much and that he was horrible at keeping anything to himself.

At first, Niall hadn't believed him; or hadn't wanted to, anyway. But then he started putting all the pieces together and it fit so perfectly that he would be a fool not to see this for what it was. Louis' party had now been 12 weeks ago- that was the night of conception. The first time he'd thrown up had admittedly been at school, but the next day it happened again. And now, it had been three months. Three months of horrible morning sickness and annoying fights with Louis. But it was also such a wonderful, magical time for Louis.

Louis was certain that he was in love with Niall, there was no way around it. He'd just _fallen_ and to be so utterly in love with someone was freeing and yet so caging. Louis felt free enough that he didn't have to search for anyone anymore, because he loved Niall. But he felt caged into never getting to tell him that. Never _could_ tell him that. Because even though they were bringing life into the world together (and Niall says that he's keeping it), he knows Niall would never love him back. And he loves him enough that he's going to let him make his own choices, and that means that if he doesn't love Louis, he doesn't love Louis.

Niall was on the verge of showing, and it was getting closer everyday. He cried about it at first, but eventually Louis whittled it into his head that being round with a baby would be _good_ for him. Now he couldn't wait. "I can see it a little, Lou. Oh, I wish you could be here." Niall said, and Louis paused in his remote buttom clicking. "I can be there. Remember? You live a block away." Louis reminded him, going back to looking for a good channel so that he wouldn't fall alseep. Niall made a sound and Louis really want to mute him for a good five seconds so that he could hear himself think over the mental cries of "oh my God he's so cute," and "please notice me."

"Come, then. Please? I want you to see it." Louis was tempted to say no, to ease the ache that his heart already had, but then his twin sisters came running through and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if they were anywhere near him, anyway. "Yea, ok." He said before hanging up and grabbing his coat. "Mum, I'm going to Niall's!" Louis shouted before he slipped out the door. He'd told his mum long ago, when he'd first pieced it together. She was so utterly supportive, and she loved the fact that she was going to (potentially) have another baby to raise. The only bad that came out of it was that now Louis' mum knew he was going out and fucking people- that was something he dreaded talking to her about.

It was Winter now, a cold February morning. Niall was due in the fall, and Louis thought this was exciting. He knew that he'd never really thought about what they'd do with the thing, just that it would live between them and that they'd be the best parents to it that they could be, what with being seniors in high school. "But we'll be graduated then." Louis realized and he smiled a bit smugly because there would be no reason he and Niall couldn't be the most amazing parents, then. Louis made it to Niall's house and was greeted at the door by Niall's brother. Louis was a bit intimidated by him, and he always made it clear that if Louis did something to hurt Niall then he'd probably not make it out alive. But other than that, he was nice enough.

"Where's Niall?" Louis asked, trying to keep his tone even and maybe even a bit flat. Greg pointed behind him with his thumb. "His room. Standing in front of the mirror and prodding his stomach." Greg thought that the whole thing could've probably been avoided, but he would have admitted that the way Niall acted lately was just plain _cute._ Louis nodded at him and pushed past to get into Niall's house. It was a cozy, quaint place that Louis secretly liked to be in more than his own house. He knew where Niall's room was and found him easily, holding his stomach just so and making a teary face at himself in the mirror.

"Oh, Louis-" He dried his eyes and put Louis' hands on his stomach. "See? Do you see it? It's really going to happen, isn't it? I'm going to have a baby." Louis just smiled and marveled at how Niall's stomach was, indeed, the slightest bit bigger than normally, or even yesterday. "Louis.. What if the baby doesn't love me?" Louis looked up and his eyebrows furrowed. "Now why wouldn't it? You're a very lovable person, dear." Louis would have other wise cringed at the use of any endearment except for his little sister and in the sarcastic sense, Harry. But he meant it this time in a more sentimental view than anything.

"But how do you know that?" Niall said and Louis was silently pleading for him to just _believe_ but outside of himself he said, "Because.. well, because-" Louis, you've fucked up all of you're plans now, bud. Just say it, say it, right now. Tell him. Tell him- "I love you.." Louis whispered, and he wasn't sure if Niall'd heard it until he took Louis' hands off his stomach, but didn't let them go. "I'm sorry, I'll go, I'm proud of you and all those good thing-" Niall talked over Louis. "Louis-" But Louis wasn't listening, he was rambling and going out on multiple tangants at once. "I'm just really sorry, and if you never wanna-"  Niall tried again, louder this time. "Louis. Listen to me. Right now." Niall was taking breath in between his phrases, still holding Louis' hands, and Louis was waiting for him to just hit him.  But that never happened.

"Louis. For the longest time, I didn't really know or understand you. I just knew you existed. But when I finally got to know you, I must say, I've never been more blessed in all my life. You are such a complex and well thought out person, like a puzzle, a puzzle that just when I think I've finally found all the pieces to, a hundred more get added and I almsot have to start all over. Having a baby with you is something all in it's own, something I wouldn't change or regret for the world." He put Louis' hands on his stomach again and tried to continue. "So.. I have to tell you this. And I'm sorry you didn't know sooner, really I am, but I thought that maybe I would make it a surprise. But.. we're having twins. Twins, Louis."

Louis felt his mouth drop open and he knew was standing there looking like an idiot but he couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. _Twins??_ It couldn't be right. How did he know that, anyway? "Hey, when'd you learn that?" It didn't make sense. "I went to an ultra sound meeting thing and there are two of them, _two,_ " Niall said and he really hoped Louis was as happy about it as he was. He was about to start crying about it, could feel the tears stinging his eyes, but then Louis hugged him. Hugged him really hard and right in the gut. It knocked the breath out of Niall for a few seconds before he put his arms around Louis and just _was._ He decided that he liked the natural scent of Louis. He wished he could wake up to it everyday. But then his mind back tracked and he realized what Louis had said to him.

"Wait," He said, pulling away from Louis and holding him at arm's length. "You love me?" And Louis had known it was coming, because even though Niall was three months pregnant, he wasn't stupid. "Well.. Actually- you know what, yes." He said and he decided not to look right at Niall's face in that instance. Niall gave a little noise and Louis looked at him in spite of himself yelling "stop looking he hates you." Louis wasn't too entirely sure how Niall was taking this until he felt his arms around him in a simple embrace. Niall stood up on his toes to reach Louis' ear.

"I love you, too. So, so much."

~~~~~~

"Louis!! I see it now, I really do! Come _now,_ it's so beautiful." Niall was saying as Louis sat on his couch, thinking of just how wonderful the past feew days had been. He'd told Niall he'd loved him, and Niall loved him back, so that was one thing that happened. Niall was growing and he was so happy about it, he'd giggle and prod his stomach and he'd tell Louis about himself everyday and it was just _cute._ Louis didn't think loving Niall more than he did was possible, but here he was, doing it.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Louis said and Niall squealed with joy before hanging up and most likely going back to squeezing himself and laughing at how it felt. Since they'd told each other their (very obvious, on Louis' part) "secrets", they'd been closer, much closer. Louis actually felt like he was going to be a father, and as unconventional as it seemed, he was getting ready for this in a way that he hoped would be worth it. He reached Niall's house at a leisurly pace, and Niall practically busted in the door trying to get to him.

"See? _See?_ It's all right here, now, oh, I'm going to be so fat!" He said, and Louis laughed, because Niall was smiling at the prospect of getting fat. "Do you realize, when it's over, you'll still have extra weight?" Louis reminded him, but he didn't pay any attention to Niall's reply, too wrapped up in looking at Niall's (very slightly) protruding stomach. "My babies. My babies are in there." He said, and he steeled himself because he promised himself that he wouldn't cry, not now or today. However, it looked that Niall had made no such promise.

"Where are they going to live?" Niall asked eventually, after Louis had sat on the floor in front of him and hadn't taken his hands off of Niall's stomach. Louis shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think one of us can have both, but then, it doesn't seem fair to switch them out. I wish we lived together." Louis conceded to sulking about how difficult this would be. He knew having a baby was hard, especially when you're young. But they had each other, and they were both just as determined to make it work as the other.

Niall nodded. "Me too. I would want to live with you, even if this wasn't happening." Niall mused, and he must not have realized he'd said it out loud, but Louis let it be and savored it. Louis felt a vibration in his pocket and sighed. His mum needed him at home, so he'd have to leave. "I have to be going now. Tell me if you, y'know, get bigger." Louis, struggling to find better words and shrugging when he couldn't find them. Niall didn't seem to care, just smiled and squeezed Louis' hand and giving him a peck on the cheek, told him that he'd miss him for this short while. Louis smiled and he couldn't help but feel like if he didn't have Niall then his life would be in shambles.

His mum _hadn't_ neeeded him, just didn't know where he was ("I told you!" He said exasperatedly. She gave him that look that said 'stop arguing.' "Louis, yelling while I'm taking a nap is _not_ telling me where you're going."). But he was then ordered to stay home and aid her in the care of the girls, and he stayed, albeit not happily. But she could tell he was a little overlly cheery and she wanted to know why. "Niall's showing, that's why I went over today." As if he had a real _reason_ to go all the other times.

Jay dropped her pen from in between her lips, a very shocked smile on her face. "What?? Did you take any pictures? I want to _see_ it!" She almost shouted, and Fizzy looked at her through the kitchen window with a 'mom please calm down you're scaring me' look before going back to her texting and web surfing. Louis grabbed Jay's wrist and shushed her ("Rude."). "Mum, it's ony a little bit, you're not missing anything." She sighed and he rubbed her back. "Yea, I'm sorry. But I _do_ get to see it soon, right? Oh, please, Louis!" She said when he looked a bit skeptical at her level of calm. He gave in eventually- of course he did. What kind of son keeps that from his mum? Not the kind Louis was raised to be.

"Can I see it tomorrow? I promise, I won't do anything crazy!" She said, and Louis shushed her again, but nodded. "Yea, you can go over with me tomorrow." She looked at him with an 'Omg thank God I don't have to sneak,' face and Louis thought that maybe he should have made her beg more. Just then, Daisy and Pheobe came through looking for Jay. "Mum!" Daisy shrieked and jumped into her lap. Pheobe sat in Louis'. "What are yo guys talking about?" Pheobe asked, and Louis smiled faintly. But instead of letting him answer the question,  Jay spoke up, very loudly to cover up anything Louis was going to say. "Louis is going to have a baby, you two. He is very happy about it, and I am, too." Louis hadn't thought of telling his sisters, but he's gald at least half of them know now. Daisy gasped and grabbed Louis' hand. "Really? Louis is going to be a daddy, Pheobe!" Pheobe nodded put her face in Louis' chest.

"Who's the mommy?" She asked, and though it was muffled, Louis still heard it. "Uhm..-" Louis mum once again became the spokesperson. "It's not going to be a mommy, there will be two daddies. Louis' friend Niall is going to be the other one." Louis expected them to not like this, but instead they looked even happier. "Oh, goodie!" Pheobe said. "You're not, I don't know, wierded out?" Louis asked, still in doubt. They both shook their heads. "No. If you're happy, then we're happy." Daisy explained, and that made Louis _really_ love his girls. "Guess what else?" Louis said before his mum beat him to it. "What?" They asked in unison and giggled at this.

"They're going to be twins, just like you!" Louis said, and the girls laughed and smiled at him and they giggled. "Yay! We're going to be aunties, Daisy!" Pheobe said, and Louis smiled at how _excited_ she sounded. Jay smiled too, but noticed the smugness in Louis'. She narrowed her eyes in a harmless way and then went back to enteraining her two youngest. Charolette came in and asked Louis' mum when dinner would be ready ("Really, if you're that hungry, you can cook for yourself." Charolette replied with a simple eye roll.), and just as Jay was about to announce the news all over again, Louis cut her off. "Lott, guess what? I'm having a baby." Her face broke into happiness and she completely forgot about being hungry or acting out on purpose. She was _so_ like Louis' mum, she wanted every detail she could have.

Fizzy came last, and she tried to remain bored and uninterested so that they'd leave her alone and so the she could text a few more boys before going to bed. But she ultimately failed at this and just sat and squealed occasionally. "Louis?" Jay asked when they were all sat in the living room. "Yea, mum." She took a deep breath, as if this was hard for the to do. "Can we have the boy just come over tomorrow? It would be unpleasant for him to have all these people in his house, but we all want to see him." Louis actually thought it was a good idea. Niall had only seen his house once or twice, and Louis wanted to change that.

So late that night, after he'd promised he would, he called Niall. "Hey, babe. Look, I'm going to be blunt. Can you come over tomorrow?" Niall hesitated. hHe wanted to, but he didn't know what he'd be doing here and plus Louis didn't have a mirror in his wall. "Uhm.. I don't know, why?" Louis didn't want to intimidate Niall at all, but this was a lot of emotional, teary eyed, and toucky-feely girls that he was living with. "Well, my clan of females would like to poke and prod at you and my babies. Are you up for that?" Louis waited, and it sounded like Niall was chewing his nails. "Yes. I'll come. But please, don't let them think anything about me." Louis scoffed. "Oh, they love you! Thank you for indulging them."

And this is why Niall loved Louis.


	5. Chapter 5- 16 weeks

Louis had been thinking about what he'd do when Niall was here. He'd thought about leaving it be or calling it off (oh, so many times), but he didn't want to disappoint his mum or sisters. So, when tomorrow came around, Niall did, too. He'd obviously known he didn't have to over-dress, as he showed up in a very large T-shirt and the baggiest pants Louis has ever seen. When Louis opens the door, his sisters rush past him and almost knock Niall into the street.

"Oh my golly!" Daisy says when she's still sitting on Niall's chest. Luckily, Niall is somehow immune to the unflattering creatures Louis must call his sisters, and gets on with them well. When everything is settled, Niall decided that he wanted to sit in Louis' lap, and Louis let him. They talk to Niall for a bit, ask about his mum and his brother, and he asks about them in turn. Then Jay clears her throat and Louis has to cough to distract himself from the spinning in his head. "Now, Niall, I hope Louis has told you why we wanted you over here." She begins. He just sits, and his fingers ghost across Louis' sweater. Jay continues, determined. "So, uhm, it would be nice and very indulgent if you could, y'know, uhm-" Fizzy sighed long-sufferingly and interrupts her. "We wanna see your stomach, mate. Think you could let us?" Charlotte looks at her with a distasteful and unimpressed look, and she returned it with a shrug.

Niall blinks and nods. "Oh, yea, sure." He gets up off of Louis and stands in the middle of them all, and lifts up his shirt. Pheobe squeals and looks as if she wants to run towards Niall and do something creepy- lick him or something. But instead, Jay stands firmly and takes small steps towards Niall. He's patient, and when she finally gets there, all he looks his curious. She looks at him and he nods, putting his hands behind his back and holding his shirt there. Jay reaches out and touches his stomach lightly, and Louis can see the tears stinging her eyes, threatening her calm façade. He clears his throat, and she cathes herself, nodding and smiling a tiny smile at Niall before going to sit back down.

Next is Charlotte, and she is more put together than her mother, and holds herself steady while she places a gentle hand on Niall's almost large stomach. He smiles lightly and she sits back down, grabbing her mother and making the same questionable noises Jay was making before. After her was Fizzy, who feigned uninterest so horribly that she eventually gave up. Sighing, she bends down and looks at Niall's stomach closer than her mother and sister before her. When she sits back down they eye her jealously. Last are the twins. They are so far from calm that it's staggering. Daisy comes up first, looks at Niall's stomach and pokes it giggling at how he shifts to be more comfortable. Then comes Pheobe, and all she does is look.

Niall looks then to Louis, and at first Louis offers him a smile. But Niall shook his head and shifted again. Louis gets the message. By now, Jay is full on sobbing, and Charlotte is rubbing her back, whispering words and shushing her. Fizzy rolls her eyes at them but Louis can see that they are damp. Louis sighs and gets up, knowing that he hasn't done this is so long. He feels happy, and he doesn't care who knows it. He stands in front of Niall, who smiles up at him and Louis puts his hands on Niall's stomach then, rubbing his fingers over it and pressing lightly. Niall hugs him and presses his face into the crook of Louis' neck. Charlotte and Jay are crying a river, while Fizzy is sniffing decidedly loud. The twins are confused as to why everyone seems so sad, but they sit back and look on fondly.

Niall finally lets Louis go, and then they just stare at each other, looking with just love. Niall lets his shirt slip back down, and Louis holds him in his lap again. Finally, Jay sighs shakily and tries to talk. "Th-thank you, Niall. We all really appreciate this. You know you're welcome here any time, right?" Niall smiles and nods. Louis looks up at Niall and sees the world, can't believe he convinced this boy to love him. Jay tells Charlotte to go and clean her face. "And, uhm, I was wondering if you'd stay for dinner?" Niall looks shocked, but still quite pleased. He nods and she smiles at him. "Yes, of course I'll stay for dinner." Louis shakes his head and hugs Niall around the gut again. Niall smiles at him and kisses his hair.

~~~~~~~

It gets to being night and Niall looks so happy that Louis wants to bottle it up and save it for himself in a selfish and crazy kind of way. Jay doesn't really know what Niall likes, so ends up just making him some soup but when he says he wants fried chicken she all but jumps out of her seat. If Louis had anything to say about it, he'd think his mother was the mother of this child. "So, Niall. When did it happen?"

Niall doesn't even freeze, they've talked about it so many times. "16 weeks ago." She nods and acts like that's all she wanted to know. Louis sneaks a glance and sees Niall smiling at his plate. Daisy speaks up quietly, looking at her fingers instead of Niall. "How does it work? You're both going to be daddies." She said, and Louis takes this one. "Niall is special. He has a part of him in him that allows him to carry my to babies, and now, he is!" Louis said, and she nodded, looking pleased with this development.

Jay sighed. "I have something to tell you, both of you." She says, and now Niall and Louis are paying rapt attention, cause she sounds serious. "I know how we live close to your family, Niall," he nods, and she continues, "and all but raising your kids apart will be, bluntly, very hard if you two are apart in any way. So.." Now she's reaching into her bag and louis is suddenly very suspicious, "I've taken the liberty of, uhm, helping you out."

She pulls her hand free of her bag and in between her fingers is something shiny. Niall grabs his hand for a split second before almost fainting because that shiny thing is a key. Louis has one of those, already. Unless- "Mum, what is this?" She smiles and looks proudly between them. "Your house. I bought it, just for the two- er- four of you, and now it won't be so hard for you guys." Louis breaks into tears, and he and Niall cry together.

Charlotte looks as if she's trying to cut her bottom lip off with her teeth and ends up crying too, again, and even Fizzy is having trouble keeping her eyes dry. "When do we get to see it?" Niall finally asks, after looking very unstable for the majority of the time he wasn't talking. "Anytime you're ready. Just send me pictures, ok? God, my boy is all grown up now, moving out and having kids and getting-" but she stops herself then, as if she realizes it; they aren't getting married.

Louis fixes her with a look that tells her to stay quiet and she does, instead goes to ask her youngest how they feel about being aunts. Niall seems to not have noticed it, though, and Louis feels safe. When dinner has somewhat subsided into conversations of who will be the best aunt and how unfair it is that Louis gets to leave, Niall finds it appropriate to leave. He kisses Louis on the cheek and waves to all the rest of them as they fight to get a good view of him in the doorway.

That night, Louis dreams of how his life with Niall will be, all of them ending in the same, unproductive way. "You're not marrying him? You're disappointing your mother and everything she stands for. Marry him. Marry him. Marry him."

That had been Louis' plan all along, he swears.


	6. Chapter 6- 20 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 20 weeks. That's five months, and Niall and Louis are most definitely counting. When they aren't together, it takes a very humiliating toll on Niall that he wishes didn't happen. He's going to be going back to school soon, and he's not sure if he's ready for that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh, wrote this in one sitting, so sorry if its short or anything. But I just really want to get to a place where I can start my next project and so I'm updating a lot in short periods of time to achieve that. But anyway, I hope you like this one, and sorry again if it's too short; I tried!

It's getting to be April, and that's when school gets back in. Louis knows it, Jay knows it, Maura knows it, and Niall ignores it. He knows it, too, but it's just hard for him to think about. He's really showing now, and he's worried that the friends he'd spent years trying to get would drop him and not think about him again. And louis knows that.

"Louis, I don't wanna go to school." Niall declares, one night when they're talking on the phone. Louis thinks of all the things he could say. He could say 'you don't have to.' He could say 'then don't.' "Niall, you can't be a drop out. That's not a good image to set." Niall sighed and nodded. "Yea, I know." But he wishes he didn't.

"We have to go to the doctor tomorrow." Louis tells him, and Niall has sort of been dreading that. "Don't wanna do that, either." Louis smiles and rubs his own stomach, imaging Niall sat at home, so _round_ with his twins. "We're going to find out the sexes. I hate saying 'them' and I really just want a son." Niall hopes Louis can make sons, because he didn't bargain of this and he doesn't have to deal with his complaining. "Me too." Niall has a hand on his now very large stomach, rubbing absent circles and tracing patterns on it the way Louis does.

"I haven't told anyone else, though. What if they laugh at me?" Louis scowls at the thought. "I'll personally beat their arse for you, yea?" Niall laughed because Louis is _silly_. "You don't have to do that, babe." Niall is growing tired and wants to go to sleep now. He tells Louis and Louis bids him a goodnight.  
~~~~~~  
Niall and Louis are now being seen at a hospital, a real one, and it's all Niall can do not to pass out from the sterile fumes of such a place. Louis holds his hand and he squeezes the fingers tightly as the walk through the hall, down to their designated doctor's office.

She smiles when they walk in. Niall just goes paler and he hates this place and this lady and today but he'll do it if Louis needs him to. "Hello, Niall. You look healthy today." Niall says a brief thank you before going and sitting down because now a days his back kills him and he doesn't understand why this process, the beautiful happening, had to hurt his body so much.

"Have your babies kicked yet? Either of them?" Niall shakes his head and all of a sudden feels disappointed in himself. "No, not yet." The doctor nods and writes something down. "And how many weeks has it been?" Niall shakes his head as Louis answers. "About 20, ma'am." Louis has no problems with the doctor and Niall doesn't get that.

"Ok. Now, Niall, if you would." The doctor doesn't finish her sentence, just correctly assumes that Niall knows what she means. She gets the equipment and Niall would be scared if this were his first time doing this. The part he really can't stand is how cold the gel is. Louis stands by the bed the doctor has Niall laying on, and holds Niall hand loosely. The doctor begins her operation.

"Now, here is the first baby's head.. And then there's baby two's foot.. Aha. Now, it seems that one of your little ones is shy. Baby two, it looks to be. But baby one is- mhm, baby one is a boy." Louis feels the whole world stop, he's not thinking, he's not breathing, he's not standing, he's not living. A boy.

He's squeezing Niall's fingers impossibly tight and they're turning white but Niall lets him have this, cause this is all he's wanted since Fizzy was born. It's been his whole world, really, so Niall's not going to be the one to take it away from him. The doctor can sense that this is a moment and leaves it be, carrying on looking for Baby One's sex.

"Baby one is a girl." She says after what seems like a year and five months. Niall is just happy they're alive and Louis is having a boy- a _son_. They leave and Louis doesn't even wait till he's home to tell his mother. "Mum, I'm having a son!" Niall hears how loudly jay has just shouted and it was probably like a war cry because now Charlotte's going to cry.

Niall didn't really have anything he'd really wanted, was just happy he was going to have them. "Louis, can you take me to our house?" Niall asks after a while, and Louis isn't shocked. Just caught off guard. "Uhm. Of course."

Louis hasn't been inside of the house, has only driven past. He didn't want to see what it looked like without Niall to tell him about how the colors were perfect, the furniture was wonderful, and how Louis being there made it all even better.

They come to the house and it's big. On the outside, it's a faint pink color with blue as an accent, yellow sometimes. Niall doesn't know how anyone couldn't fall in love with such a beautiful thing, but was glad it was his beautiful thing. Louis unlocks the door of it, and it swings open with no creaking. It opens into a hallway, which leads into a living room, a kitchen, down more of the hall, or up the stairs. Niall just wants to sit so he goes into the living room and he's just happy but then Louis shouts his name from up the stairs and he sighed.

"Yes?" He says when he gets onto the landing. Louis runs out to him and grabs him a bit roughly by the shoulder. "You've got to see it, oh, it's so beautiful, my mum- just c'mon!" Louis is then dragging him down the hall and Niall is struggling because he's so big and Louis is moving too fast- "Oh."

They both stand in the door way of a quite spacious room, with a window seat and a large shelf set in the wall in the back of the room. But what caught their eye was the furniture- this room was quite obviously a nursery.

It had yellow walls, with little pink and blue flowers all mattled across it. There were two little cribs, and there was a bin full of stuffed animals ("those were mine," Louis whispers.) that was at next to a changing station. The floor had a rug and above both of the cribs were mobiles, real, set-in-the-ceiling mobiles. In one corner there was a rocking chair and Niall wanted to sit in it right then but resists the urge because that would ruin it. He instead puts a hand on his back and leans into it a little.

Louis sighes and looks like he's going to be staying there for a while, so Niall decides to go and see the bedrooms. One hand on his back, one in his stomach, Niall walks through the hall. On the second room, he looks in and sees a kid's room. "For the twins." He says, and is turning around when he feels it. It's a tiny movement but it was _there_ , he swears.

He's still just standing there, willing it to happen again, and when it does he puts both hands on his stomach. "Baby- baby." He says, because he still can't really believe this is happening. His. Baby. Just. Kicked.

"Louis, Louis!" He shouts when he finally realizes he needs to tell about this, that keeping it to himself as a little motherly secret isn't right, not this time. Louis is walking rather slowly for Niall's taste. "Hurry up, they might stop." This makes Louis confused, but he moves faster, anyway.  
"What, what?" He asks, and all Niall can do is point.

When Louis still doesn't get it, Niall grabs at Louis' hand, frustrated that he can't just understand, and forces it down onto his stomach. Louis is slightly less confused now, and Niall feels joy when he feels the tiny foot kick him again. He doesn't know which one it is but he doesn't care, because one of his babies just kicked and he's proud and happy and glowing and Louis can see all of that in his face.

"Wha-" It happens again, twice before it seems that they're finished, and Louis doesn't want to pull his hand away, in case he misses something. Niall holds Louis' hand to his stomach by laying his on top of it. "They kicked, Louis. At least one of them." Louis just nods.

"We should leave soon- we don't live here yet." Niall pouts but lets Louis lead him it and all the way back home. When Louis gets home, he finds his mum asleep in the living room, a box of tissues on the night stand and Charlotte on the floor in front of the couch. Louis shakes his mum awake.

"Huh? Oh, hello, Louis." Louis nods and shakes her more because she's not fully awake. "Mum, we went and saw the house. You made me cry, the nursery was so beautiful." His mum smiled proudly at this. "Good. You deserved it, after all the times you've told me stuff and I've been brought to tears." Louis shakes his head but continues. "But mum.. One of them kicked." She shot up and Louis flinched because of how fast she moved.

"What?" He nods. "Dunno which one it was but one of them kicked and then Niall called me and I felt it. It was... Magical, mum." Louis is just happy that Niall is his, and that he's got another point in this game of "we'll I.." (The score must be Louis- 3 and Jay-2 but that's still a win for Louis).

~~~~~~

It's the first day back to school, and Niall doesn't want to be alive. He fears that if he goes to school, it will end in him somehow not having anymore friends. But Louis keeps telling him that it'll be ok, and he believes him. So Niall is sitting on his back porch when Louis drives up, rocking slightly just from nerves.

"It'll be fine, ok? Just don't worry about it." Niall doesn't know how many times he's heard those words verbatim from Louis but he doesn't care anymore because he's doing exactly that- not worrying about it. Louis drives him to school and then he's hiding again but Louis drags him out and then everybody sees him.

A group of girls are shyly eyeing him and their leader finally works it up to approach him. "Hi, uhm, Niall, we were really just wondering if, uh, if you could tell us, um, about your baby?" Niall is shocked, he expected the girl to want to insult him. He won't hide the fact that he's pleased. He nods and the girl looks so relieved that she looks like a different person.

Louis goes off to find Liam and Zayn, to ask how their breaks were. But he sees Harry first and it hits him really hard- he missed Harry a whole hell of a lot more than he'd let himself think about. "Louis? Oh, Louis!" It's a happy reunion, so happy that Louis fails to care about the fact that it's in the hallway. "Oh, Haz, I'm sorry for not talking to you over the break!"

"Yea, what was up with that?" Harry asks, not that they've calmed down. "Oh, uh, I actually have something to tell you, but I've got to find Liam and Zayn-" Louis feels a hand clap on his back and jolts forward a bit before he realizes that it was Zayn. "Lou, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

He has them all now, even though Harry and Liam aren't paying Ny attention to him. They're talking and whispering and Louis doesn't like it but lets it be. "Alright, you guys. Now, as you all understand, I didn't do much communicating with you over the break." Zayn sighs and shakes his head. "Louis, cut to the chase."

"Oh, alright. Niall is going to have twins-" they're all paying attention now. "What?? How- who's?" Liam says, and Louis shushes him. "I was getting to that. They're mine." Now Harry is shaking his head in pure disbelief and Zayn is smiling incredibly wide. Liam has a blank expression, though his cheeks are flushing and he keeps glancing at Harry.

"You're not telling the truth. What is this, a late April fool's?" Harry says, but just then, Niall finds them. "Hey, all of you." He greets them while holding onto Louis' arm. All of them are speechless, just standing there and staring at Niall. Niall shrinks back into Louis. "What?" He asks. Harry reaches out and touches Niall's stomach. "See? What did I tell you?" Louis says. Harry is now grabbing at Niall's stomach, as if he can make it disappear. "Uhm.."

"Harry, unhand him, please." Harry snaps out of his reverie and glances briefly at Liam before stepping back and allowing Niall his space. "Relax. I'm just me." Liam looks genuinely curious and Louis doesn't want that. "Yea, but you're, like, pregnant." Zayn said. Harry rolled his eye and punched Zayn in the arm. "Real smooth, bud." Zayn rolls his eyes in return and now Liam is laughing a little too hard but God, Louis missed this.

And for Niall, that day was so bad after all.


	7. Chapter 7- 24 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been really great for them these past few months. But, what is a tale without tragedy? Our young couple face a new and heart shattering obstacle that will haunt them for a long, long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like an asshole.   
> Playlist- Destiny's child, Lil Wayne, and my boo, Aubrey Graham.

So many weeks it's been since Louis had had his party. It seemed a life time ago. He and Niall like to stay at their house, and since they don't have anymore school, their mums let them stay nights sometimes. This is one of those times. They were sleeping in the bed together, Louis with his arms wrapped around Niall, Niall with his face in Louis' chest. He was listening to the sound of Louis breathing when he felt it, a sharp and almost blinding pain. He gasped and pushed himself away from Louis, because the pressure on his stomach was too much. "Louis. Louis, wake up." Louis just shook his head and reached for Niall. Niall couldn't have that so he tried to stand to escape Louis's hands. It was a mistake.

"Louis, you've got to wake up, right now." Niall moaned a little when his stomach hurt again. Louis was blinking himself awake but he was going too slow for Niall. "Hmm?" Louis hummed since he was only half awake. "Something is wrong. With the babies." He added when Louis looked like he was going back to sleep. Louis still didn't get it. "What?" Niall pinched the brige of his nose and then pressed his lips together as another wave of pain hit him. "You goddamn idiot! My babies are doing something they shouldn't be and you're about to go to sleep? I can't drive, I can almost not walk, and I'm hurting. You need to take me to that fucking hospital or else I'll just have to walk there and face dying or worse." He's just mad at Louis for being dumb. "Oh, okay, uhm."

The next few minutes were very confusing for Louis and very painful for Niall. "Go faster! You'd be speeding if you were the one hurting like a bitch!" Niall would shout and Louis would speed a few more miles. When they finally got to the hospital Louis wouldn't let anyone touch Niall. "Why are you still touching me?" Niall asked and Louis would glare around but never answer. Niall's screaming was eventually too much for anyone to handle and they took him to a room that Louis wasn't allowed into (" 'S just fucked up.")

It had been many hours (25 minutes) and Louis wasn't going to wait any longer. "I have to see him, you don't get it, I have to be in there-" but then the door opened and Louis burst in, didn't care what the rules were at all anymore. The doctor's face was grave and Niall had sat up, and he was sobbing almost violently. "Wha- what did you do? Did you hurt him? Why'd you touch him?" Louis hasn't known pissiness was contagious but he'd caught it just fine. The doctor sighed and looked really sad for the both if them. "Louis, I'm really sorry about this. I don't know how to tell you but-" Niall shouts out some song lyrics then (he'd told Louis before that it calmed him down) and punched the bed sheets.

"Louis! They're- I'm sorry- I failed you! I promise I didn't know about this, I'm sorry, oh Christ my children, gone gone gone!" Louis really hoped he was just going on. "No, I'm afraid that what Niall's saying is true. You children are, well.. They're gone, Louis. They didn't make it. No heartbeat." Louis stood and stared, not at anything in particular. He saw past the doctor and yet didn't, his eyes glazed over and then he passed out.

~~~~~~

They got home the next morning, when Niall wasn't shouting the words to "More Than Words" and sometimes a little Justin Timberlake anymore. Louis drove them to the new house and then they sat on the floor in the nursery and cried, just cried. "Wish it was just- just simple." Louis kept whispering and Niall stroked his hair and told him, "We all do. I'm sorry." He'd add and then Louis would cry harder. "How are we going to tell anyone? There's mum and my whole clan of sisters and then yours and then we'd have to tell Liam and Zayn and oh, what about Harry-" Niall pinched Louis' arm. "Be quiet."

"But-" Niall shook his head and kicked the floor. "Don't worry about them. Forget about it and don't tell them if you feel that bad about it. Let it go and eventually they'll notice." Louis thought this was kind of stupid. "No, we can't do that to them." Niall sighed and he was tearing up more. "I just don't want to think about it anymore." They decided to just live in the house, because it was their's anyway. They went home that night and secretly packed. Louis was bombarded with questions of Niall's health, and Louis just broke down, he couldn't do it anymore. "So they're gone? Both of them?" Fizzy asked and Louis simply jerked his head before sobbing again, louder.

"Mum, I've decided that I want to live with him now, as you bought the house and it would be a waste not to." She just nodded, trying desperately to cover up her eyes so that the tears didn't get too far down her face. "So you're not going to be a Daddy anymore?" The twins asked him and he shook his head, smiled wetly at their young concern. "No. It didn't work out."

~~~~~~

Louis had eventually gotten to calling everyone and telling them to stop planning things, take things back to the store and to not open things. They cried and he told them that it would be ok, he would be ok. But he just hadn't had the heart to call Harry, and it was getting ridiculous. He dialed Harry's number slowly, his fingers shaking. It rang a few times and then a very out of breath Harry picked up. "Hello?" He said, and he heard a voice tell Harry to come back to bed, Louis knew that voice but didn't have time to dwell on it. "Ok. Ok. I can do it, I can really do it." "Harry, you know how I, uh, knocked Niall up?" Harry hummed his agreement and Louis continued. "Well.. It turns out that it didn't last. They're gone, Harry, both of them." Harry gasped and the voice asked what was wrong, who _is_ that, Louis thought. "Are you sure?" Harry asks and Louis almost shouts but bites his lip and tries again. "Yeah. There was no heartbeat." He said, and now he thinks Harry is crying, which is actually a bit remarkable. "I'm really sorry, Lou." He said and then the voice was frantically asking and now Louis remembers, that's Liam he's hearing.

"Hey, why're you with Liam?" He asked absently and Harry was silent for a bit before saying, "You know, I- it's complicated, alright? I don't think I could ever explain it." Louis nodded to himself [don't any of you worry, I have plans to explain it]. "Oh. Well, I've told you, and I got to be getting home now. So, uhm, bye." Harry sighed and Louis wanted to hang up but that's  _rude_ so he refrained. "Yeah. I'm really sorry again, Lou. I know how happy they made you." Louis just hung up then (so much for being rude), but it was Harry's fault for saying anything else about it.

He wasn't actually going home; he was going to a jewler. He'd been remebering what his mum had said all those months ago. Or, almost said. "God, my boy is all grown up,moving out and having kids  and getting-" Louis was on a path of making that right. He knew that he didn't have an extravegent amount of money, but he'd always thought he'd have a wife  so he'd save up his pocket change and the bills he'd find around the house. It all really adds up when you need it. And right now, they all needed it.

He walked into the quaint one that was a little bit away from their house. "Hello. How may I help you?" The woman behind the counter asks, and Louis smiles at her. "Yes, I'm looking for, uh, a ring."She laughed at his uncertainty and came from around the counter. Louis just nodded. "His favorite color is blue, if that means anything, and his size, that should be around 8 or 9." The woman nodded ("She's so professional.") and took him around to a case labeled "Blue."

"Now, here we have one, it's really popular, and it's just a right size. I assume you aren't telling him about this?" She asked, adn Louis nodded. "Then you'll just have to guess." He looked around the counter and he wasn't exactly sure what he ws actually looking for but he was going to give it a try. "Now, if you don't know what you're looking for but you really just wannt something you can take a catalog and look through that." He picked one up and decied he'd keep it just in case.

He was looking around blindly again, but then he gasped and almost ran two counters away. "This on, can I have this one? It's just- it's perfect." She smiled at him and then took the ring out. "Would you like anything special on it?" He shook his head and was ready to snatch it from her. "Right. I have to pay for it. How much?" He asked and he had a credit card for a reason, so. "This one? It's $3000, sir." She looked very scared that he wouldn't be able to pay but he pulled out his card and she took it.

"Transaction complete. It's yours!" She said and Louis smiled. He took the box that the lady expertly put the ring into and put it into his pocket. "Congratulations!" She shouted after him when he walked out. Now, all he had to do was set a date and then they'd all be happy again. Just then his phone rang. He sat on the bench outside the shop and answered. "Yes?" He said, he didn't care if he was being too cheery or any of it; he's getting married. "Hey, where are you at? You said you'd be home sooner." Niall was whining, but Louis let him. "I'm sorry, babe. I'm coming, I just had to check some things." Louis could tell Niall had pulled that "Say my name," face. "I'm coming home, Niall. I love you."

Niall open the door and he had his hands on his hips, though they were twitching as if he wanted to move them. "You're back." He said and he looked kind of mad but he loved Louis so much that he was going to let it go. Louis nodded and then hugged Niall. It had been only one week since Niall's miscarriage, so he still had the weight. The doctor had said that it would take a while for him to lose it, so it'd be a constant reminder for Niall especially. "You don't need to worry about me, babe. I'm always going to come home to you." Louis whispered and Niall shivered but nodded. He yawned and walked into the house. "I was watching a moive, but I'm tired now. Sleep with me." He said and dragged Louis up stairs with him.

~~~~~~

It had been a few days, now, and Louis is feeling very pressured. He knows that doing it this soon would be a little dumb, but everyone wants him to do it, he can feel their eyes on him as he walks closer to Niall, or when how he bends over people gasp and drop their phones. He was really starting to hate it; it confused Niall to no end. He didn't like how everyone was making a big deal out of him, and he wasn't pleased to be the last person to know things, either. Finally, he confronts Louis about it.

"Louis, what is everyone so excited about? I failed you." He whispers the last part but looks determined to have his answer. Louis sighed. They're at his mum's house, and all of them are listening now. "Well, they're expecting me to do something." Niall looked lost. 'Well, why haven't you done it yet?" He asked. He crossed his arms over his stomach and let them rest there. Jay gasps and she says something quietly to the girls and now they're all very breathless and all that. "Because I don't know if i'm ready for it." He said.

Niall raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his back. "Oh, just do it, Louis!" Charlotte shouted and Louis glared at her but turned back to Niall and took a deep breath. "Niall. I've loved for a long time. You know that, everyone knows that. I know that it's been kind of hard for us lately but.. I've been meaning to ask you this, uhm.." Louis sighed before getting down on one knee. Niall gasped a little but realitvely kept his cool. "Go on."

He pulled out the ring and blinked back his tears. "Niall James Horan, will you marry me?" He asked, and prayed that he was doing this right. Niall was silent, he was shaking and his lips were a white line but he was silent. Louis was starting to second guess himself he was about to stand up and just say sorry, act like it never happened and try again later. Niall sensed this and threw his arms around Louis as best he could (A, pregnancy belly and B, he's kneeling.) and shouted out "Yes.  _Yes._ YES.  _YES!_ " He was crying now, they all were, and Louis grabbed him up and hugged him properly.

~~~~~~

"You're getting married?" Harry asked him, while Liam had his hand in a questionable place and Zayn gaped. He nodded and smiled widely at them, though Niall looked a little aprehensive of them. "That's so great!" Harry said, and Zayn still didn't say anything. It was like he couldn't. Liam hit him on the back and he shook his head before nodding along with Harry. "Yeah, congratulations, mate." He said, and Louis squeezed Niall's hand. "Oh, right. Thank you, all of you." He said, and hugged Louis sideways. "Liam, stop it." Harry whispered and  Liam grinned at him before putting his hand on the table.

"So, Harry, how're your, uhm, your friends?" Louis asked, and Harry's face picked up, while Liam's dropped. "Oh, you mean Veronica and Chanel and what's-her-name?" Louis nodded, trying to act oblivious to the stare Liam was fixing him with. "I'm broken up with all of them." He said, and he glanced at Liam before placing his hands together. "Oh, really? I'm sorry, Harry." Louis said, and Harry shook his head. "No, don't be. I"m happy now." He said, and Liam looked to be squeezing his thigh. "I told you to stop that." He said again, and Liam just grinend again.

Zayn looked at them fondly, and Louis didn't feel like messing up whatever he was feeling just then. "We only just got out of school, Louis, are you sure about this?" Liam asked, being the sensible one Louis had always hated him to be. "Yes. I love Niall with all my heart and if I didn't marry him there would be no point to living." He said simply, and Liam nodded. Harry smiled at them lazily and Zayn shook Louis' hand. "Good going, guys." Niall was being quiet for no good reason, no reason at all except for that he liked to hear Louis' voice and he loved his friends. He's so happy, and yet he's he saddest human being on Earth.

The existence of Niall James Horan was a hard one to lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so sorry it's sad. You knew it couldn't all work for long! And again, I'm sorry for being so long!


	8. Chapter 8- (32) 8 weeks since miscarriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They'd been so happy. It had all been working out. Niall was still convinced it was his fault, and Louis hated that. They were living together and were getting married, so life wasn't too horrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A plot twist, and I'm back! I've been really busy and so I haven't been able to update but now my mum's got work again so- YAY? The names are revealed, and it wasn't hard to really pick them cause I always have some name in my head but the girl's name (not gonna spoil it) is my favorite name ever, so.  
> All I ever do is mess stuff up and upload it too early. Goddamn

Louis hasn't known how much loosing children took out of a person. He was just so utterly devastatd and hadn't talked to anyone outside of Niall for about a month. He was hurting and his mum's constant prying didn't make any of it better. He's been thinking about something, but he doesn't know how Niall will feel about it.

"Louis, can I ask you something?" Niall asked, coming over to where Louis was sitting on the couch. "You just did." He said, wrapping his arms around Niall's top half. "I'm serious!" He crossed his arms. "So was I."

"I just want to know.. This is hard to ask. I've been thinking about this a lot, and- Louis, how would you feel about trying again?" He said, and Louis sat silent. "What?" He finally said, after Niall had sighed a spooked about to push off of him. "To try again. For- for more kids."

He knew exactly how he felt about that. "It would make me so happy." He said, and Niall smiled at him. "Well, you know what that means, right?" Louis grinned but shook his head. "We'll have to wait, babe." He said and yet he still managed to pinch Niall's bum as he got up and said that he was making breakfast (it was 3 in the afternoon). They had been eating for ten minutes when Louis' phone rang and Harry's voice came through the other end. They talked leisurely and Harry told Louis that his mum was engaged.

Louis was speechless and tearful and happy for her and Niall sat confused across from him. When he finally got to hanging up, Niall questioned him. "Harry's mum is getting married." Niall smiled and then he said he was tired and was going to bed. Louis let him go and said he was going to watch a few things in the Telly before joining him. Niall hasn't told the absolute truth to Louis. It had all started a few days after he'd found out about- it.

He had been sitting and sniffling and Louis hasn't been there so he had no one to tell it to anyway. It was short and abrupt, and it was so fleeting that Niall was sure he had imagined it. But then, it happened again, and at a different angle. "One.. Two." He counted on his fingers and he wasn't sure if he was hallucinating or if this happened to specially grief stricken people, but this felt an awful lot like when his babies had kicked.

It's been happening for weeks now and his stomach is getting lower and he just really thinks that there's something up. It's not normal for dead babies to be kicking and growing and so this was.. Disquieting, to say in the least. He's even been talking to them, and he calls them by the names they'd picked together. They respond and he cries. "Felix, be nice to your sister. She's doing you no wrong and you're being a horrible brute." Maybe it's that Felix likes the sound of his voice. Or it's that he understood what he'd said. But he stopped nonetheless and would stay still for an hour before his sister would start up again.

"Oh, wait until you're born, Chelsea, then you can hit him back all you like." He knew that if he was heard then he sounded like some sort of lunatic but he did it when Louis was out and he would rub his stomach and roll around a pool of his own confusion for a while before exhausting himself.

~~~~~~~

Admittedly, Niall should tell Louis. He knows this whole heartedly and in any other circumstance would see it as the best course of action. However, he didn't want to. Louis would want him to have it checked out and all that but then what he'd been wrong and was just hallucinating? He wasn't ready for that. Presently he was sat on their bed, watching Louis get ready for work. He'd picked up a tiny job down at the bakery, and his pay was nice enough that Niall felt fine with their life.

"Gotta go now, babe. I love you, I'll see you later." Niall smiled at him and hugged him. "Bye." Louis was hugging him a little tightly and Niall wanted to get away from him because this was the time in the day when they'd start acting up but Louis leans down to kiss him and then there it is, a few shallow kicks. Niall is prepared to act like it never happened, like he hadn't felt it, because maybe he didn't. Maybe it hadn't. "Niall?" Louis whispered. "Niall, what was that?" So it's real. It's really been happening, then. They're really growing and kicking and making his belly drop and all if that. Niall was scared.

"I- it's- Look, I've got this under control." Louis was incredulous. "What are you talking about? They're supposed to be deceased and they're moving? How long has this been happening?" Niall pouts because it was supposed to be his secret, a tiny little secret that he felt he deserved to have kept. "Weeks." Louis gasped and his face was turning red but then he went to the bathroom and splashed his face with cold water and when he came back his breathing was deep but he was calmer.

"Niall, why didn't you tell me?" Louis asks, and he's slow with it so that he doesn't yell. "Well, uhm, I didn't exactly, erm, _want_ to tell you." He was close to just whispering now because he would rather have Louis yelling at him than acting like this. "Why? I have a right, a very simple right, to know about these kinds of things." He was going to be late for work and Niall could tell he wasn't thinking about that, that he wasn't in the mind right now. "Well, I just.. I don't know, I wanted to see how long it would last." Louis' eyes are shining with horribly concealed rage and Niall pulls the cover up higher onto his stomach. "I'm sorry, ok? I'm sorry."

Louis shook his head. "You have to go to the doctor, Niall. I can't let you just live like this, not knowing what's happening inside you." Niall almost smiles then because that's how they got into this mess in the first place. "That's another reason I didn't tell you.." Niall whispered and Louis raised an eyebrow. "Oh, because Niall knows best, isn't that right? You've always known best, and that's why you wouldn't go to the doctor in the first place." Niall raised an eyebrow at him. "So that's how you want to play, huh? I said I was sorry, aare you really trying to do this?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head a bit.

"I, uhm- no?" Louis was stuttering, and Niall was glad he had such an effect on him. "Right. You'd better go to work, then." He said, or rather, spat. What was Louis so worried about? He knew what he was doing, didn't Louis trust him?

~~~~~~

It had been all day, and Niall had been decidedly silent towards Louis. He didn't really want anything to do with him at this moment. But he couldn't sleep on the couch, so when Louis tried to get in, he locked the door. He hadn't wanted to be so cold and all but if Louis didn't trust him, why should he trust Louis?

Louis sighed when he tried the door and couldn't open it. "Niall..." He whispered. He heard shuffling and then the door opened a tiny bit, which was a bit impractical because there were no lights on in the house so he couldn't see him and Louis knew that. "I'm sorry for, y'know, doubting you. I get that if you don't want to go, you don't have to." Niall considers the apology, but judging by the force that he hugs Louis, he accepts. "I'll go to the doctor next week." Niall promised. Except that it happened four weeks later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so sorry if this sucked because it was short, and sorry if this is so short it sucks. I just really already posted this and wanted to finish it so I could work on my other story. Hope you enjoyed anyway, and hey, I want to know who likes the names I came up with.


	9. Chapter 9- 36 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost time. He's almost made it. If they screw it up now, nothing will quite be worth it. It's just now or never, really (except for the fact that they have a good four weeks to worry about such things).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG you guys- it's almost over. I'm kind of sad writing even this part. But.. 'Nothing Lasts Forever, but be honest babe, it hurts but it might be the only way.' Which of course it isn't but either way my life's not complete without a Maroon 5 quote.

"Niall."

He knew that tone and knew he should have done it. He'd promised he'd do it. And he hadn't done it. "Alright, alright! Let me get decent."

The doctor. Louis has been telling him for more than weeks that he should go back. It wasn't normal or healthy, Niall's hatred, but he had always been persistent.

The drive was quiet, except for when Niall got excited and sang the old Alicia Keys because she was his favorite and her music hit his heart at an angle Louis didn't understand.

"Now, I won't stay long." Niall warned before being helped from the car (what is Louis if not a gentleman(many things)?) and took him to the air conditioned hospital.

Lately because of the heat Niall hadn't been wearing shirts. He hated how when he would sweat he would slide off the couch, or how it dripped into his belly button, or how the hand he would place on his stomach wouldn't be there anymore in a minute, but it sure beat sweating out tight shirts and not being able to get them off when he couldn't handle it. As a result, they didn't know what fit Niall. So Louis had taken the liberty of asking his mum for some of her maternity shirts. Niall thought they were ugly, and Louis found them the most endearing things he'd ever seen.

"Hello, Mr. Tomlinson, Mr. Horan." Niall smiled ("I'll be Mr. Tomlinson, too, soon") and sat in the chair closest to the door after pushing Louis out of his way ("You're too slow!"). "Now, I'm pretty sure that you two are confused," When they nodded she continued, "as to what's been happening. And based on what you've described, I can tell you. Niall, you experienced pain that day, correct?" Niall nodded. "Well, I'll tell you. You had a Braxton Hicks."

Niall quirked an eyebrow, obviously confused. Louis gasped and then sighed. "False labor, babe." Niall still didn't get this. "But he said 'No heart beat and- ah?" The doctor shook her head. "Inexperince never pays." Niall put a hand on his forehead. "Woah," was all he said.

~~~~~~

"So, they're alive?" Louis nodded in exasperation, Niall already having asked that question 6 times. "Louis.. We're going to be fathers, for real this time!" Louis smiled at this and wrapped his arms around Niall. "But, you've gotta tell me something." He whispered against Niall's neck and Niall shivered before slowly replying, "What?"

"That you'll always want more; that you'll always try again with me." Niall sighed and nodded before pushing off of Louis. "Too hot." Niall wasn't sure what to do now. Of course, they'd have to tell people. Mainly the families. Doncaster had never had anything like this happen and everyone in town knew about it. Word spreads in small towns.

"Would it be ok if we told your family tomorrow? I want to see them again." Niall asked suddenly, turning back to Louis from where he'd been lumbering back to their room. Louis just shrugged and nodded. He'd wanted to tell Harry first but this would be ok, they could tell him next.

~~~~~~

"Mum! Me and Niall have something to tell you all." Louis said in that voice he uses when he does presentations. "Well, you know how we just went through a tragic time? And how something really horrible happened?" He waited for them to nod, then continued,"That's what we have to talk to you about."

He then summoned Niall, who had been sitting a little ways away, playing with his belly button. The twins had been laughing at him. He huffed but stood up slowly and made his way over to Louis. "I had a Braxton Hicks. So that means that they haven't died; that they're growing right now, right here." Niall rubbed at his stomach before he was bombarded by all of them trying to hug him at once. Louis watched fondly. "Hm."

~~~~~~

"Alright, Haz. So, me and Niall found something out a few days ago." Harry held his stomach, pushing back his chair from the table in the coffee shop that they were sitting at. "Stuffy. Now, what was that? Do tell." Louis smiled and put a hand on Niall's. "Theyre alive, Harry! We really are going to be dads." Just then, Harry's phone rang. He sighed and pressed the red button when he saw who it was- "Liam? You're not taking to Liam? Oh, Haz, what happened?"

Niall was just watching. He was always scared to be in public these days. Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Nothing. It's fine, we're fine." Harry huffed and twisted his fingers together. "It's ok, then." Louis said, and Harry smiled faintly before sniffing and then he was tearing up. "Yeah, I know it's bad to keep things from you but.. I just can't tell you yet." Louis shook his head and patted Harry's. "I'm not asking you to. Do it when you're ready."

Niall narrowed his eyes at Harry. Something was strange about him. And he smelled weird, familiar. Niall sniffed the air and then sniffed himself. "Same." He whispered, not that Louis or Harry was paying attention anyway. Harry smelled like soap and sweat and.. Life. Niall gasped quite audibly and they turned to him. "What's wrong, babe?" Louis asked, but Niall shook his head. He'd just have to talk to Harry about it later. "Nothing. I'm worried for you, Harry." He said truthfully and Louis nodded. Harry nodded too and held onto Niall's hands. "You understand more than anyone." He whispered absently before his phone rang again and this time it said 'Mum.' "Oh, I have to go now. Congratulations, you two."

~~~~~~

"Did you notice anything weird about Harry?" Louis asked when they were laying in bed. He'd said it into Niall's neck. "No; he's just going through it." Niall didn't exactly want to elaborate, but just then Louis' breathing slowed and he didn't ask anything else. "Really going through it."

And now Niall was keeping another secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also- what did you all think of the names I picked for their babies? I quite like them, but I'd really like to know what you all thought. (I've been trying not to say y'all, it's really hard)


	10. Chapter 10- 40 weeks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How long is forty weeks? No one can even remember the days that Niall and Louis weren't attached at the hip. And now, it's happening. The day of their lives is here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! So, it's come to a close, people. This has obviously been quite popular, and I'm glad you people took the time to read my crappy writing. Enjoy this final installment of "When You See."

Niall doesn't know how he expected it to be. Maybe he'd thought they'd be in bed. Maybe he thought they'd be in the living room. Maybe he thought they'd be in public, even.

But they weren't.

Louis had let his mum plan a party for Niall, as it was his birthday. "Louis! Why can't you just tell her to call it off!" Louis would smile and shake his head. "I had to give her this one." And they had. They were there early, just because it was Niall's party, and he'd been sitting around when Harry came around, looking tired but trying to be happy. "Hey, mate, happy birthday!" He said and the his mum came to tell him the same thing. Zayn came, and Perrie too, and Leigh-Anne. Jade and Jesy and Grimmy showed up. Josh and Olly came round soon enough, and then everyone was there. "Mum! You invited all these people?" Louis had wanted to say _Grimmy_ , but decided against it. "Yes! But someone's missing.. Oh, there he is. Hey, Liam!"

Harry's head whipped around and he looked sicker than before, if possible. Liam smiled at Harry's Louis' mum and before he could do anything else Harry came up to him. "Hey, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for shutting you out. You deserve to know about these things." He said, not going to elaborate because he knew people were watching. Liam just nodded and hugged Harry loosely, as if try to avoid his stomach. Niall didn't feel nineteen. He felt sixteen, in this world of new experiences and people. He knows that he shouldn't have let himself pregnant and all that, but he honestly couldn't think of a better course of action that he could have taken. He was getting married soon, and his babies were due any day now.

Louis' mum called for a toast. "May I have everyone's attention? Yes, thank you. I'd would just like to say a few words on the behalf of the birthday boy!" Everyone was silent then, and Niall picked at a string on his shirt. He hated beyond comprehension when he was being payed attention to. "Niall, we all love you so much. It's been an honor to know you, and to got through this life with you. You are just really special to all of us. And you make my boy happy. So, a toast to Niall!" Everyone scrambled for their half forgotten drinks and raised them all, "To Niall," echoing through the house. "This is too much, you guys. Thank you all, really."

He was talking with his hands; an annoying habit that he really wished he'd stop having. "I guess I'll just say- what the-" Just then there was a shooting pain in Niall's stomach, burning and hot and sudden. He moaned and coughed into his hand, and contiued. "I'd just like to say that I'm thankful- _oww.._ " He wasn't sure what was happening, but he knew that Louis was moving closer to him. "No, stop- uhm, Thank you, guys! I don't feel 19 at all, feel like I just started highschool, really. I'm really grateful for all of- ok, what's happening?" They didn't know, none of them except Louis' mum.

"Niall. Does it feel really hot in here?" She asked, and he nodded. Louis looked around hysterically, trying to find something to help the situation. "And are you feeling any kind of pain?" Nial nodded and went to sit down, anywhere, but he couldn't manage it. Louis looked close to crying then. "And, uhm, the pain's coming from your stomach?" Niall moaned again and nodded. "Then I know what's happening to you: you're going to have your babies now."

Niall's eyes widened and he clutched his stomach, while Louis rushed him into their car and sped to the hospital. When they arrived Niall was put into a wheelchair and Louis pouted because of course he Wasn't allowed to control it, or steer it or even look at it. "Ugh." He follows behind and is only stopped at the door for identification. "Louis Tomlinson, uh, gosh, the father." He was let in then. The doctor asked Niall if he was ready to endure such pain, the worst pain he'd ever feel in his life. Niall didn't hesitate to nod. "Are you ready to hear the cries of your twins?" Niall cried, "Yes, yes! Hurry up!" The doctor smiled. "One more, then we're done. Are you ready to be a father?" And Louis thought, no, of course not. He was 18 when it happened, and Louis basically ruined his life. But Niall nodded anyway, and the doctor clapped his hands together. "Alright, then. Lets do it."

~~~~~~

It was a trying time. Niall made of out alive, and they welcomed Felix Carter and Chelsea Marie into the world. They weren't sure what the last names were, and they didn't care. Niall sat up in the bed, his head resting on the wall and his eyes on his two new creations. He made these, these perfect little beings. He'd carried them and fed them and in a way gave them the best gift he'd ever expected to give; Life. But he hadnt done it alone. No one does that. He'd had Louis.

Louis, who's tiny little swimmer had created this life. Louis, who read to him when he cried. Louis, who got him his ice cream and saltine crackers no matter how late it was. Louis, who he was going to marry. That thought alone made every part of his life that had been subconsciously messed up worth it. This was Louis. And maybe that's why when Louis said, "Smile!" Niall didn't hesitate to grin as he'd never grinned before. Because even though this was the day he'd look the worst of his life (he felt), Louis taking that picture didn't mean any harm to him. Nothing could anymore.

~~~~~~

That had been one of the best days of Niall's life. Next only to the day that he'd been proposed to, it was his only memory that he thought worth saving. They'd gone home three days later. Niall's 19 birthday hadn't exactly gone as planned, but Louis' mum just threw another party. Niall went (against his will( "she's just being nice, you have to go!"),) and had a very good time. He knew he couldn't drink again for a long time, and that was a horrible bummer. But for some reason, Harry didn't drink anything either, so it was a little more ok.

Niall turned to Harry. "Thank you so much." He said, and Harry pulled a confused face. Pulling his jumper down, Harry asked, "what did I do?" Niall smiled at him, a white smile and a tired smile. "For dragging me down to Louis' party all those nights ago."

Louis' mum gasped as she came over. "Louis threw a party?! When?"

_End_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly hating on myself right now. This is quite obviously the longest I've ever gone without updating, and I'M SO SORRY! I'll never do it again, ok? Thank you for supporting me through all of this terrible writing! I'm really glad that I entertained you all.


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